Bandage roll



Oct. 1, 1929. H. M. BRIGHTMAN BANDAGE ROLL Filed May 4, 1926 PatentedGet. 1, 1929 HENRY M. BRIGI-ITMAN, OF BRADFORD, RHODE ISLAND, ASSIGNORTO HYGIENIC FIBER COMPANY, INCORPORATED, OF VEBSAILLES, CONNECTICUT, ACORPORATION OF MASSACHUSETTS BANDAGE ROLL Application filed May 4,

My invention relates to so-called gauze bandages and particularly to apackage or method of storing and dispensing the same.

One of the objects is to provide a sanitary roll which can be readilybroken up into short lengths. Another object is to provide .abandagesheet in such a roll form that. it

may be readily broken into short lengths without leaving troublesomefrayed ends or ravellings. Another object is to provide a convenientmethod of packaging and dispensing gauze bandage sheets.

In carrying out the invention the cloth, which is usually called gauze,is passed through rolls which weaken the weft threads at intervals alongzig zag lines. The sheet is then tightly rolled or wound up into a roll.The roll is then wrapped in a suitable protective cover for instance ofpaper and sealed for shipment. The roll with this enveloping wrapper isadapted to be broken on the planes in which the weakened sections havebeen wound.

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a bandage roll embodying my inventionwith one end broken off.

Fig. 2 shows a fragment of the gauze fab- I ric on an enlarged scaleshowing the line of weakening of the weft threads.

Fig. 3 is a still larger fragmentary View showing one method ofweakening the weft threads along a zig zag line.

The gauze comm-only employed for surgical bandage purposes is woven andconsists of warp threads 5 with weft threads 6 inter woven therewith,the gauze being usually of cotton or linen.

The sheet of gauze is first passed through suitable instruments such ascutting or fracturing rolls with teeth or edges arranged on zig zaglines and adapted to crush the fiber of the weft threads along a zig zagline as indicated at 7 in Fig. 2. The appearance of the crushed weftthreads is indicated at 8 and 9 on the very much enlarged fragment offabric shown in Fig. 3. Preferably this weakening does not entirelysever the weft threads but weakens them so that they can be readilybroken along a zig zag line. After the weft threads have been thusweakened 1926. Serial No. 108,604.

the sheet is rolled up tightly into a roll 10, the weft threads runninglongitudinally of the roll. The roll is therefore quite weak along theplanes of the weakened sections as at 11 in Fig. 1. As the sheet as awhole has not been severed or broken up by the weakening action the rollrequires no core or other interior stiffening means for holding the rolltogether.

After the roll has: been made as above de scribed it is. wrapped inpaper or other suitable material 12 which may be sealed so as to keepdirt and other contaminating matter from cont-act with the gauze. Thepaper with which the roll is wrapped is preferably stronger in onedirection than in the other, and preferably it is weakest in thedirection of the length of the roll so as to facilitate breaking theroll into sections constituting the individual bandages 14.

The package may be marked at the sections 11 11 where the roll isbreakable so as to facilitate the separation and also so as to indicatevisually the width of the bandage in the roll. The roll may also beprovided with a label or tag 15 containing on it a statement of thewidth of the roll, the length of the sheet and also the width theindividual sections will have when the roll is broken.

This method is a particularly convenient one for handling and rollingthe gauze sheet and is much cheaper and produces more uniform resultsthan is possible where the bandage tapes are first cut and then wound upseparately and assembled in a roll. The weakening along the zig zaglines also greatly improves the product as it lessens the likelihood ofline lint clinging to the bandage which lint is quite objectionable andlikely to get into wounds.

It should be understood, of course that the sheet may be of anydesired'width and that it may be scored or weakened along any number oflines at any desired spacing so as to produce a bandage roll of anysuitable length designed to be broken up into individual bandage rollsof any desired width.

I claim:

1. A bandage roll comprising a sheet of gauze having its weft threadsconnected but weakened at intervals along zig zag lines, said gauzesheet being wound tightly into a single roll and a paper wrapperenclosing said gauze roll, said roll and Wrapper being breakable at theplanes of said zig zag lines.

2. The method ofpackaging bandage rolls which comprises first crushingthe weft threads of a sheet of gauze along zig zag lines to Weaken themwithout separating them, then tightly rolling up said sheet into asingle roll in which the zigzag lines overlap and form prospective rollsections separable from each other by breaking the roll on the planes ofthe weakened lines.

3. A gauze bandage roll comprising a single sheet of Woven gauze woundtightly into a single roll, weft threads of said sheet being crushed andpartially severed and materially weakened along an irregular zig-zagline extending longitudinallyof the sheet and said sheet being wound sothat the irregular weakened portions are arranged in a generaltransverse plane and a protecting Wrapper for said roll, said roll andwrapper being readily breakable at the plane of the weakened por tion.

HENRY M. BRIGHTMAN.

